Vol 1 Chapter 5 (1/2)

Evening.

In a world without light, the ground was barely illuminated by the light from the stars and the moon.

I was working as a night watch outside the slaves’ tent.

A night watchman.

What does it mean? I am a guard during the night.

A slave merchant was a merchant too.

Their image says they had money or high-quality slaves, that they are often attacked by thieves.

When attacked by a thief, they will lose money, merchandise, or even worse, their lives.

So slave merchants will always use muscular slaves as guardsmen looking out the perimeter.

To be able to fight back when attacked.

The lookout was laid out around the area, day and night.

A slave merchant was only human too. They had to take a rest during the night.

Humans are creatures that must get enough sleep.

So it was just reasonable for Mark to sleep at night.

Meanwhile the slaves and I, the apprentice merchant, are guarding the perimeter.

(Sloppy)

I was aware that my smile didn’t stop.

At this rate, I was certain my night strategy will succeed.

Night Strategy.

It was the scenario I planned before.

First, I will watch Mark through the hole in the tent.

I will monitor the condition of Mark inside the tent as much as possible to know whether or not he was asleep.

If it’s possible, I have to know Mark’s equipment, the location of the weapon, and the location of the contract and the ink so I don’t forget it.

Next, I have to prepare some sufficient tools to raid Mark.

The things I have with me now are the bucket to distribute water to the slaves, the dustpan to gather the excrements, and a brush to groom the horse hair. Everything was tools of a servant.

Honestly, I don’t have any tools that I can use for a surprise raid.

However, how about using the bonfire that we are using during night watch?

And the last one.

How can I kill Mark?

If it would be possible, it would be a one-sided attack if I’m able to take out Mark’s vision. I want to bind his freedom of movement.

I thought up this current plan, get Mark drunk from drinking too much liquor, he will lie down, then I will cover him with the robe that I wear to take out his vision temporarily. This attack method must be done in one go.

I thought about refining it a little bit more before implementing it.

So I refined the action plan according to those three stages.

When there was no particular problem in my scenario, I checked it over many times.

(My nerves won’t calm down)

I decided to observe my surroundings to calm myself down.

Although you may call it a Tent based on the inscription, Mark and I were operating the open-air slave shop in the slum area of the desert.

Slum Area.

This was a place where scoundrels gather, or rather than that, it was more proper to say this was a place where poor people drift to.

The financially poor ones.

For example, a soldier who lost their arm. A mother with a child who lost her husband. An old man who went blind.

Those were the people that quietly rolled in, this was the peculiarity of this slum area.

They carry on their lives by begging, drawing water, or doing manual labor.

They can barely support themselves by bartering.